Posted on 03/11/2005 8:11:53 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Former Ku Klux Klansman Sen. Robert Byrd said Thursday that he decided to leave the anti-black terrorist group in 1946 after becoming a born-again Christian, adding that the only reason he used the "N"-word in a 2001 television interview is because he'd heard black leaders say it.
Asked why he left the Klan, Byrd told Fox News Channel's Alan Colmes, "My wife and I, we're born- again Christians . . . We were baptized in the Old Church Yard at Crab Orchard Baptist Church in 1946 . . . That changed my thinking in many ways."
"Time, reflection, and the teachings of the Bible" helped him cut his ties with the Klan, Byrd said - where he served as Grand Kleagle and was paid $10 a head to recruit like-minded racists who were willing to lynch blacks. Asked why - 55 years after he abandoned the hate-group - he used the "N"-word twice during an interview on "Fox News Sunday," the ex-Klansman explained:
"Well, I have heard many people use it. I have heard black leaders use it. I've heard white leaders use it."
Byrd told Colmes that the racist slur "meant nothing" to him, except to describe someone who was ignorant.
The West Virginia Democrat insisted that he'd always tried "to do the right thing."
But he didn't explain why he decided to lead the filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, or championed the renaming of the Senate's main office after Georgia Sen. Richard B. Russell, whose chief accomplishment was blocking the passage of anti-lynching legislation in the 1930's and 40's.
Instead Byrd insisted it was time to close the book on the earlier chapters of his life, saying, "I was wrong, as many young men are wrong today, even when they join groups. That's all in the past."
Sure sounds like a born again Christian to me.
Byrd is a liar.
My, my, what a tempting target.
A pro-abortion anti-military former KlanKleagle running in the state of West Virginia. He's gonna try to wrap himself in the bacon and slide through one more time.
So go directly at his strength: the bacon. Point out how while he got money into West Virginia to buy a bridge andor two, it was at the cost of West Virginians sending money to Washington to pay for a National Helium Reserve in Texas, a railroad museum in Pennsylvania, and transexual frog research in Poland.
Yes, Byrd is planning to run in 2006. He won't leave the Senate, unless it's feet first. The only Pubbie candidate realistically suggested thus far is Shelley Moore Capito, currently our only Republican member of Congress (the others being Democrats Alan B. Mollohan and Nick Joe "The Sheik" Rahall).
He did not just support the Klan by showing up once--he blessed ran the thing as the Grand Poobah-Lord High Executioner.
Sorry to quote Ann Coulter again, but she has these (s***)Byrds pegged. Paraphrasing ('Slander'?), 'For Democrats, when a former Klansman calls the president of the United States a Nazi, that's free speech. When an American calls a United States Senator a former Klansman, that's hate speech.'
Colmes did a good Larry King impression last night: 'Here's another softball, Your Eminence.'
Quickie Quiz:
Which of the following people used the term "White Ni**er" in Public?
Jimmie (the Greek ) Snyder,Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich, John Tower, Richard Nixon, Earl Butz, Rush Limbaugh
Answer:
None of them, and they all lost their jobs because of "racial insensitivity" or some such nonsense.
A double standard, perhaps?
"Well, I have heard many people use it. I have heard black leaders use it. I've heard white leaders use it."
Oh sure. Blame the victims.
Oh, and what did he and other Senatorial RATs (Kerry comes to mind), have to say about George Bush's younger indiscretions? Another question: How many blacks lost their lives to the evil actions of KKK members that he recruited? There's a huge difference between supporting a murderous, truly terrorist organization, and having a drinking problem (but the RATs don't get it yet!).
Right, and I'm Peter Pan--see me fly. (sarc)
Not too convincing. Sorry.
The time is way past for this self-aggrandizing old fool. He should have been wearing a plaid jacket and shuffling along at the dog track a long time ago.
He said he was wrong. He attributes his changed attitude to becoming Christian.
That's good enough for me. KKK is no longer an issue for Sen Byrd.
Now about policy.........
What's at issue here is the tendency of government and "educated" people to declare certain words offensive, and punish those who use them.
The "n" word is now too highly charged to be used in most situations without risk of offending, but it was not always so.
Undercut and defang the people who think they can legislate and dictate our language.
Byrd: Why I Left the Klan
Because it wasn't politically popular anymore.
Byrdbrain is a man who is wholly unqualified to do anything in private life that would earn him the money, power, and perks he now enjoys as a Senator. Even with a Senate pension, he'd lose the perks and adulation common to that class. Thus, he will literally say and do anything at all to remain in his position, even things he absolutely doesn't believe in personally.
He is a reprehensible human being, and his continued presence in the Senate is a herpes sore for his home state, and the nation.
When he was involved with the Klan, no doubt they were primarily a social organization that promoted good horsemanship, camping skills, innovative fashion, and night-time shooting competitions. The whole racism thing was a turn-off, though, so eventually they parted ways...
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